Being a professional in this industry can sometimes bring an unwarranted negative image. The perception of finance and investment banking professionals often attracts blame for issues such as the financial crash in 2008.

In order to overcome this stigma, professionals in the finance and investment banking industry should look towards increasing their personal brand and changing people’s mind through positivity.

I asked the personal-branding expert Talaya Waller what she recommends and finds of value for personal (i.e. professional) branding. Here is what she said: "As a newly published researcher, I’ve encouraged my colleagues to make sure they create an account and complete a profile on Google Scholar. You can connect with other researchers and see where your work has been cited. You can network with other scholars as well. In addition, every professor should think about having a professional landing page online outside of their university. They can use their site to publish their unpublished and published work, solicit other thought leaders in their field, and have a method of contact for researchers to ask them about their work."

It’s not hard to imagine the future possibilities for one who starts their first business venture when she was just a high school student. Dr. Talaya Waller, CEO/Founder of Waller & Company, first started her entrepreneurial journey as a violinist in a musical group she pioneered called Young Inspirations. She and a group of fellow students performed at weddings and various gigs within the community for extra money. While others were still depending on hand outs and allowances from their parents, Dr.Waller was creating a stream of income for herself as a teen.

On Monday, June 15th we had the pleasure of shooting business headshots for members of the Women’s Information Network (WIN). According to the WIN event coordinator, the event sold out in 30 minutes with 25 women registered for the speed photo-shoot and 50 on the wait-list.